Job 30:4

30:4 By the brush ¹  they would gather ²  herbs from the salt marshes, ³ 

and the root of the broom tree was their food.

Job 19:28

19:28 If you say, ‘How we will pursue him,

since the root of the trouble is found in him!’ ⁴ 

[30:4]  ¹ tn Or “the leaves of bushes” (ESV), a possibility dating back to Saadia and discussed by G. R. Driver and G. B. Gray (Job [ICC], 2:209) in their philological notes.

[30:4]  ² tn Here too the form is the participle with the article.

[30:4]  ³ tn Heb “gather mallow,” a plant which grows in salt marshes.

[19:28]  ⁴ tc The MT reads “in me.” If that is retained, then the question would be in the first colon, and the reasoning of the second colon would be Job’s. But over 100 mss have “in him,” and so this reading is accepted by most editors. The verse is a little difficult, but it seems to form a warning by Job that God’s appearance which will vindicate Job will bring judgment on those who persecute him and charge him falsely.